Perfect Box Pouch Tutorial

How insanely fabulous is this pouch? I can’t decide if I love it so much because a) it is made from glittery elephant fabric, b) of it’s small but perfectly proportioned size, c) it holds my on the go quilting supplies or d) all of the above.

If you’d like to make your own see how below.

You will need:

2 pieces of exterior fabric measuring 8 inches by 6 inches. (The longer side will be the top of your pouch, keep this in mind when cutting directional fabric)

2 pieces of interior fabric measuring 8 inches by 6 inches

2 pieces of mid-weight woven non-fusible interfacing (This helps add body to your bag, because without it it wouldn’t be very “boxy””

1 12 inch zipper

Coordinating thread (this will be visible on the outside of the bag)

Things that will come in handy:

rotary cutter

cutting mat

shears

craft scissors

clear ruler

Step 1:

Choose and cut your fabric- is it just me or is this oftentime the hardest part?

I like to use a right angle ruler (“borrowed” from my husband) to make sure my fabric pieces are nice and square.

Step 3: Stitch the layers together 1/4 in from the edge. You can use a 1/4 in foot or the edge of your presser foot. These stitches will not be visible and are only done to hold the layers together for the next step. Fold the edges under 1/2 in and press.

Step 4: Places both sets of fabric with the pressed under edges on top of the zipper and sew together.

Step 5: Fold the two sides right sides of the exterior fabric together. The right side of your interior fabric will then be facing up. Stitch a quarter inch seam along the raw edge. I also suggest using shears to finish your seams so they don’t fray with use (I forgot to do this…)

Step 6: Press the fabric tube you have created flat ensuring you have centered the bottom seam on the zipper.

Step 7: Move your zipper pull to the center and stitch a quarter inch seam on both sides. Make sure you go over the zipper 2 or 3 times to secure it.

Step 8: Cut off the excess ends of the zipper leaving about an inch from your seam.

Step 9: Pinch the corners out to form triangles and draw a line one inch from the point and roughly two inches across. A clear ruler is key! Pin in place and sew across the two inch line on all four sides.

Step 10: Use your shears to cut off the excess fabric. This reduces the bulk and finishes your seam in one step.

Step 11: Turn your pouch and admire your handiwork!

You can fill it with on the go sewing essentials like I did.

Or use it as a change purse, first aid kit, on the go toy “chest,” cosmetic case, candy bag, etc

Hi, we’re in informal organization trying to raise money (with the help of local bands) to help food banks in the Washington DC area (as well as any other charities the bands would prefer us to help).
We are hoping to set up an etsy shop (as soon as I can settle on a definite address–I’m moving) and sell some products where 100% of the proceeds will benefit charities in the DC area. I was wondering if I could use your wonderful tutorial and sell items I made with it on etsy? (In the description I would link the pattern to this blog if you’d prefer)
Thanks for your consideration! :)

great tutorial! i’m going away this weekend, and this is so much cuter than carrying my stuff in a ziplock, plus, my pins and scissors always end uppoking through the plastic. i just whipped one of these up in less than 30 minutes, using materials and notions i had on hand, and it turned out adorable! i did modify slightly to have the seams enclosed around the zipper and at the botom seam, for less raveling, and i overcast the seams where i made the corners, too.

I was looking to make something like this last year for Christmas gifts but ended up sewing a bunch of other things for my girls – I had forgotten about it but now it’s on the top of the list again! Thanks!

Awesome–I just made one–and for once something actually turned out like the pictures–I teach Family and Consumer Science (Home Ec.) to high school students–so I will have to teach them how to make this cute pouch–your awesome!!!

Hi,
I love your tutorial. I have seen these all over the internet and have been dying to have one of my own. I just had a question. I was wondering if the elephant fabric is made of cotton canvas or is it just cotton fabric? Thanks a ton :)

[…] was reading through my mass of RSS feeds the other day and came upon this tutorial for a “Perfect Box Pouch”. It looked so simple and didn’t take much fabric. Plus, the potential uses for such a pouch […]

Thanks Nichole! I did quite a few of these, modified them here and there, made bigger, etc. I’ve posted them on my flickr, and have given all of them away already! They make really quick gifts, every one loves a place to put “things”. Your tutorial is great.

[…] Yesterday, while I was trapped inside my apartment before the local geek squad moved in to save the day (well, the evening), I made the cutest little box bag you have ever seen from this tutorial. […]

Love the fabric! The primrose fabric on the inside is beautiful too! I am glad I found this tute I saw these pouches on etsy and really wanted to make one. They are great for toting around small hand sewing projects. A loop on on end might be helpful.

Thank You for sharing this. I am a beginner sewer and made one tonight and I am so so so happy with my first attempt. I will blog about it tomorrow and give credit and link back here to share your fab tutorial.

[…] last night I created two box pouches which I am stoked about for a number of reasons. 1. I followed this tutorial, 2. It was the first time I sewed a zip and its easier than I thought, 3. I made […]

Thank you so much for making this tutorial. I have made a number of these little bags for presents., and they are great. I will be making more, and in a bigger size. I will link your blog on mine. I hope that is okay.

I found this cute bag blog hopping today. It is adorable. will be great as a Christmas gift filled with goodies. I posted about it on my blog and used a link to your tutorial. Thanks for sharing this with the rest of us.

[…] hidden disaster lol but hey it works and it’s adorable. This is from a free pattern called Perfect Box Pouch. Lucky me! I was able to find the same fabric that she used. I fell in love with it when I saw it, […]

Thank you, thank you for the instruction. I have been sewing since 11 yo but still have problems making patterns for what I want to sew. Thank you so much for this instruction. The photos really help. I have made several and have adjusted it just right to fit my daughter’s iphone and ds. thank you!

Hello!
I really like your how to. I was wondering if I could translate it in French and add it to my list of how to as explained in my french post (http://www.petitcitron.com/index.php/form_howto.html)
Of course, your website would be quoted and there would be a link!
Thank you,
Perrine

I love this! I’m going to make a couple up for gifts using insulating batting instead of the interfacing. They make great little coolers for snacks. And my dh loves them for packing his bait down to the river.

This is great! Just started taking a sewing class and my machine is right now getting oiled and serviced. Can’t wait to try this tutorial, and add some sewing projects to my very crafty life, which you can see at http://www.creativejewishmom.com

[…] in between. Learn how to make your own perfect box pouch (pictured above) with a little help from Indie House. This step by step tutorial shows you exactly how to make your own box pouch! What you decide to […]

[…] was reading through some of the quilt blogs I follow (I love Google Reader!) when I happened on Sew Katie Did’s blog about her ciggie pouch. The ciggie pouch is adorable, and I would love to make one of these, but the […]

I’ve been making box purses for awhile, but when I saw yours with that elephant fabric, my jaw dropped! I have that same fabric in pink!!! I love it, and yours are so adorable! I saw someone else above commented that they almost did the same… how funny! Love your blog!

[…] is something I whipped out a month ago (yep, the machine is that dusty). Thanks to tutorial from this link. It was made using a Japanese cotton fabric then quilted with scrap quilt batting. For sweet […]

[…] #1 Rainbow Heart Box Pouch One of my first projects since I've returned – perfect box pouch! It's very cute. I should have used a another sheet or two of interfacing to make it look more crisp and boxy, but when I put things in it, it's hold shape well anyway. The outside is black fabric with rainbow hards, the zipper is a soft pink, and the inside is a matching soft pink with darker pink polka dots. The pink doesn't show up well in the photos, but it's cute. Put some brown thread and some dental floss in it! Whatever you want! It was much easier than it looks; it took about 3 hours in total, but that was because I made a dumb mistake and it took 20 minutes to take out the mistake-stitches; it'd probably take a lot less than 3 hours if I did it again. I made this using the very helpful perfect box tutorial. […]

Sorry to comment on an old post, but I just stumbled into this and think it’s completely adorable! One thing that might clean up the unfinished edges: as a first step, if you sewed together your two squares, right-to-right, with a little hole (like a pillow) then turned them right-side out and sewed together the little hole, there would be no raw edges anywhere!

[…] to help streamline the creation of my own. One comes from Dragon[knit]fly and the other from Indie House. I generally stuck to the Indie House tutorial because of its simple and clear explanations, […]

Awesome! I love your elephant fabric :)
I just made this and it turned out very well (especially seeing it was my first time doing anything with interfacing or zippers). I didn’t even use my seam ripper at all :P

I also want to add that with the suggested size of 8×6 pieces to start, my pouch turned out a hair to short to easily house normal sized pencils and pens (they fit, but only diagonally). I made another one and increased it to 9×6 and that one is perfectly sized for pens and pencils. :)

it’s such a cute bag. Love the fabric you used. I have a sewing machine but I’m not much of a sewing person but this I can see myself making. It doesn’t look hard at all. Thanks for the step by step instructions. Can’t wait to try it.

[…] Suzanne from A New Creation is documenting all the things she is making. From Crafts to Yummy Recipes. She recently made this box pouch that turned out really well! She got the pattern from Indie House. […]

[…] been itching to try out the laminated cottons coming out, so the other day I pulled the zipped box pouch tutorial from Indie House and combined it with the tips on laminated cotton from Kathy of Pink Chalk […]

I just finished mine and will soon open a post to show it and link it to your tutorial in my blog (I’m just waiting for daylight to take a nice photograph!)
Thank you so much for the clear instructions and great pictures!

Hey there! Fantastic tutorial!
I made my first pouch to your dimensions and it turned out great. But what I wanted (and tried to do) was a pouch a little bigger (longer) with the facric dimensions of 9″ x 5″. It didn’t quite turn out right, and i have a feeling it has to do with the corner cutting step. Is there any adjustments I need to make on the 1″ high and 2″ wide cut?

I had just bought my very first sewing machine 3 days ago. I figured I should give sewing a try with time off school. Never having done anything with a sewing machine my whole life, I just made this box in less than 2 hours and it is so cute! Love it! Thank you so much for the tutorial :)

I’ve had this tutorial bookmarked for ages, but my old sewing machine was just not up to the task. I finally was able to purchase a brand new machine and I thought this would be the perfect thing to try it out.

All I can say is wow! This tutorial was super-easy to follow – I consider myself the most novice of sewer and I can’t believe I actually did it! My finished pouch looks so darn cute! I can’t wait to make another one (although I’ll probabaly attempt to make it bigger!)….

Thank you for this. Absolutely brilliant tutorial! I have made 2 so far, and they’ve come out great. I made them slightly bigger than yours at 8″x10″ & 8″x11″, and had no problems. The 2nd one was also made using leather, which looked really good (A walking foot was a necessity)

I generally do not leave comments, but I am so proud of myself, thanks to your tute.

I am an absolute beginner and my pouch looks like it has been sewn by a seasoned seamstress. Your instructions were so easy to follow. I am now of to sew a few more for a b’day present, can’t wait to give them to my friend.

Just made a wonderful little pouch from your extremely clear and easy to follow tutorial. I made a few little changes: I used mid-weight iron-on interfacing on the exterior fabric; at step 2 I sewed the interior and exterior fabrics right sides together, then pressed and turned before sewing the zipper in (then you don’t have to turn the fabric nor do you have any raw edges); and at step 5 I did a tricky little move so again there isn’t any raw edges – sewing just the exterior fabric right sides together, then the interior fabrics right side together before turning so that it sits right. Thanks for an awesome crafty project. I’ll be making lots more of these!

Wow, thank you so much for this tutorial! I haven’t sewn anything since I was 14, (10 years ago) but I was given a sewing machine for my birthday this year and thought I’d give this a go. It was so easy to follow your instructions that it only took me 3 hours in total! And that includes unpicking 3 seams when I jumped the gun and didn’t read your instructions. :)
I might modify this to fit pencils into the final product next time.

Thanks again! You have definitely helped introduce me to the joys of sewing! (I was never much of a fan when I was 14. :))

Just made one of these! It turned out great. The only negative comment i have are the raw edges on the inside. I tried to figure out a way to hide them but i had already started stitching and there was no way. And my box didn’t turn out a cute perfect little rectangle like yours, but this is my first one after all. Other than that its perfect and adorable!

Adorable! If you don’t mind, I am going to use this as a project for the sewing class I teach in the High School. I was looking for a project that could also be used to hold they’re sewing supplies in. Perfect!

Ive been wanting to make one of these for so long, but always got discouraged because they looked complicating. This tutorial was SO EASY and it only took me about 20 minutes to make my first one. Im going to be making about a million of these, because theyre so fun and useful! Thanks!

I just made these as a dop bag for my girls so they can each put their own toothbrush, toothpaste and accessories in them for when we travel. Such easy and well written instruction with great pictures! Thanks so much for sharing this tut!

[…] work, these first two are lined and the first one will beseamless and the other will have seams on the inside (which means no tricky turning), this one isn’t lined at all and might be good for a thicker […]

hi. your tutorial is very good… i tried to do the bag some times… but it never looks so cool as yours. i have a doubt: i couldn’t understand very well what you did after step 8… i couldn’t get how you cut the corners… if you could explain or add some pictures…
thanks

[…] around on Pinterest for a good first project and came across a tutorial from Make it Modern called Perfect Box Pouch Tutorial. I am so glad I picked it because she gives perfect, clear instructions and I feel my project […]

[…] bags. I really love sewing them. I spent the majority of yesterday doing just that. There is a great tutorial for this boxy pouch which I found via another blogger. I had seen it on Pinterest, but had to try it out for myself. […]

Fantastic instructions! I’m a beginning sewist and I’m trying to customise this case for pencils. Do you have any suggestions as to what length/width pieces would make a nicely proportioned case, and how long would I sew the box seam?
Thanks so much for this posting. Looking forward to making it!

[…] quarters of zebra print, medium stiffness stabilizer, and a coordinating zipper. Then I followed this tutorial. It was the easiest bag I have ever made and is the PERFECT solution to my problem! And the […]

Wow, i love this tutorial :] never made anything with a zipper before! It was so easy, and I love the end product! Too cute :] shame i didn’t have as cute fabric as you do! hehe. Can’t wait to make another one. My only problem was i only have light-weight interfacing :[ so it’s a little bit flimsy. Hoping to get some mid-weight soon so :] until then I’m going to try with 2layers of the light. Thanks again, you are great :] . starrie